The spread of electric cars is creating a chasm in state tax revenues. So the Texas, After Norway, Switzerland and England, think of measures to hit green cars and rebalance, at least in part, the situation with respect to those with an internal combustion engine. The idea of the American state is that of set up a new highway tax that will hit plug car ownersto compensate for the absence of the contribution (5 cents per litre) which is paid for the maintenance of the highways through the purchase of fuel.
The bill introduced by the Republican senator Robert Nichols, who is also chairman of the US Southern State Transportation Commission, provides for a tax up to $200 a year. Nichols confirmed the strong concern about the negative impact that the abandonment of heat engines – and therefore of fossil fuels – is having on tax revenues. The project has already been validated by the House of Representatives and will have to be definitively adopted by the governor Gregory Wayne..
Norway, taxes on electric cars are back
But it is not only Texas, which is also a major oil producer, that is slowing down on the green car subsidies. According to some estimates, the electric car boom in Norway has spawned a loss of tax revenue valued at a good 2 billion euros. A shortcoming that the Scandinavian country’s legislators want to remedy by eliminating some of what are defined as “privileges” introduced over the last decade.
First of all, Norway reintroducerrà l’VAT at 25% even on electric cars. The measure will concern premium vehicles with a price exceeding 500,000 Norwegian crowns (about 50,000 euros) and will put on the same level (commercial and fiscal) full electric vehicles with those driven by an internal combustion engine. Anyone who buys a car “on tap” will then have to pay for one registration fee.
But that is not all. The Norwegian government would in fact be thinking of also reintroduce the car tax leveraging the greater weight of electric cars compared to petrol and diesel ones.
Road tax in Norway is determined on the basis of three parameters: CO2 emissions, nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) and vehicle weight. Since electric cars emit neither CO2 nor NOx, Scandinavian lawmakers are thinking about “play” on theirs weight in order to collect the missing crowns. Specifically, Norway is considering applying a weight surcharge for cars weighing more than a ton.
Based on the rumors circulated so far, the new weight tax for electric cars it should concern full-electric vehicles weighing more than 900 kilograms, to grow significantly for vehicles over 1.4 tons. Motorists would find themselves at pay around 1.2 euros for each kilogram exceeding 500 kilos.
Switzerland is targeting green cars
In Swiss cars are subject to a cup of 4%, which is applied to the import price. This tax, although it does not cause a real increase of 4% on the final price, is passed on entirely to the final consumer. Electric cars have been exempt from this tax for several yearsa move that was introduced in Switzerland to generate an indirect incentive, and encourage the diffusion of electric vehicles.
Now though the Federal Council wants to cancel the exemption. The diffusion of electric cars in Switzerland reached the last year 20% share of new registrations and the foregone tax revenue has generated a shortfall for 78 million francs (about 78 million euros), and it is estimated that in 2023 this figure could rise to 100-150 million francs.
Between 2024 and 2030 the coffers could lack 2 to 3 billion. The Council considers the exemption no longer necessaryas electric vehicles are now widespread, they have a broad commercial offer, and as regards the lower end, they are close to the price of internal combustion engine vehicles.
In England dark on exemptions
The British government has also announced that from 2025 battery-powered vehicles will be required to pay the VED (vehicle excise duty), the annual car tax, equivalent of our car tax), exactly like the endothermic engine cars. The spread of electric cars has generated less revenue on the car tax front, but also less fuel consumption, resulting in a failure to collect excise duties with a buvo in the state coffers that is no longer sustainable. Projections estimate that the diffusion of electric vehicles could lead as early as 2026 to loss of £2.1 billion (well over 3 billion euros) of revenue from stamp duty and excise duties.
And there are those who would like total reverse
If Texas taxes green cars, there are also those who would like to see them disappear. In fact, a proposal was presented in January State of Wyoming which he foresaw a ban on the sale of new electric cars by 2035. Lawmakers had specifically referred to tax revenue shortfalls and the importance of the fossil fuel industry in Wyoming and how internal combustion vehicles have enabled economic growth through interstate commerce.
Furthermore, it was pointed out that long highways in sparsely populated areas, combined with a lack of charging infrastructure, made electric vehicles entirely unviable. A bill, however, immediately blocked and which in any case did not have the characteristics of the bill and therefore, even if it had been implemented, it would not have had the force of a ban.
In Italy, on the other hand, the green car does not pay taxes
In Italy, cars with electric motors are exempt from the payment of vehicle taxes for five years from the date of first registration; at the end of this period, a tax equal to a quarter of the amount foreseen for the corresponding petrol vehicles must be paid.
Furthermore, the bonus for thepurchase of electric cars linked to ISEE e it can go up to 7,500 euros. A bonus which, moreover, failed given the propensity of motorists, more than in other countries, to prefer traditional combustion vehicles. For now, the market share of green cars is just 3.7% and therefore they have a modest impact on the state coffers. But if we analyze the forecasts, which speak of 10% already in 2026, the situation changes drastically.